Thursday, December 1, 2011

More printed boxes at TGC.

TheGameCrafter.com medium box (from TGC site)

TheGameCrafter.com adds another box size. This is a bit bigger (and heftier) than their tuckboxes, and is apparently fully customizable like the tuckboxes. The foam insert is an interesting touch. At first sight, it seemed a little cheesy to me, but I haven't seen one in real life, and the more I think about it, the more I think it might work well. I'm just used to cardboard or plastic inserts rather than foam. The design seems pretty flexible, but it also doesn't allow a ton of stuff to fit in the box - each of the four bays can hold 68 cards or a small stash of plastic bits. The box can't hold any of their printed boards other than the 4x4 mini-board size, but it does allow the custom 1.25" token chips with stickers, which are a super-flexible option for many games.

This is maybe more attractive than their full-size box for small games with only cards and bits (no boards). At $4, it would be a significant fraction of the cost of a game, I'd bet, but it could also look pretty sharp if you print all over the box. The closure might not stand up to repeated use, but games don't get opened all that much, and I shouldn't judge it before I see it in person.